


Take A Swing At Me

by orphan_account



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Anger, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Rivalry, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:54:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22114432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: She huffs once she gets it up in her arms. Her hands are sweaty, shaking with the effort. Hope wishes, not for the first time, that if she was going to be born without powers than she could at least have been born a little taller and stronger to help sell the lie.This is pathetic.OrThe Sky High AU no one asked for where Josie and Hope are rivals cause of their respective parents.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 26
Kudos: 198





	1. Lying Is The Best Policy

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is not-so-loosely based off of the movie Sky High. You also don’t need to watch the movie to understand the fic

It’s 7:30 in the morning, exactly thirty minutes before school starts, and Hope Mikaelson is still not ready. 

She’s showered thoroughly, brushed her teeth and hair, and put on her nicest outfit. Anyone else would look at her and say that she’s ready, but Hope knows she isn’t. Maybe for regular public school, but not for this. 

Hope bends down and gets her fingers under a weight on her bedroom floor. It’s one of many, but this one is the lightest of the others that her dad bought her. It’s about one hundred and fifty pounds, and if you were to ask her parents, they would say that she could lift that much with her big toe. Yet, here Hope is, less than hours before her first day at the Salvatore School for the Gifted and she’s unable to even lift this much without a lot of strain on her body.

She huffs once she gets it up in her arms. Her hands are sweaty, shaking with the effort. Hope wishes, not for the first time, that if she was going to be born without powers than she could at least have been born a little taller and stronger to help sell the lie. This is pathetic. 

Hope hears the sound of someone coming up the stairs (her father, she assumes, by the sound of the heavy footsteps) and panics. She drops the weight, nearly hitting her foot in the process, and rushes over to a much heavier one. While she quickly stacks a ridiculous amount of weight onto the bar for her bench press, Hope thinks about the events that led her here.

The lying started somewhere during kindergarten, when everyone else started getting their powers. Everyone was expecting her to fly like her mom or have super strength like her dad. Nothing ever really came. Flying seemed much too hard to fake and she couldn’t risk someone throwing her off of something with the intent of her not ever hitting the ground, so super strength became the lie. It was supposed to be temporary, but well…

“Holy fucking- ow.” Hope whines, smashing her finger on one of the weights. 

Unfortunately, there’s no time to check on the dull throbbing spreading through her hand. She ducks under the bar and sets her hands evenly on it just as the door opens.

Hope huffs dramatically. “Three hundred.”

“Hey, honey.” 

Hope sits up and does her best to pretend to look slightly tired. Her dad, Klaus, looks amused by it. He wouldn’t say it, but Hope knows that he’s glad she (fake) inherited his strength rather than her mother’s flight. He’s so proud of her, Hope can see it all over his face. 

She wants to fucking vomit.

“Hey.” Hope replies casually. “I was just getting in a few reps before school.” 

She watches her dad pick up one of the weights and fiddle with it. Effortless.

“Well, Hayley sent me up here to tell you to not be late. Also, MG is here.” Klaus explains. He tosses the weight in the air and Hope fights the urge to flinch - he’s thrown heavy things at her before, completely trusting that she’s strong enough to catch them. 

“Okay.” 

Hope gets up and grabs her backpack, hoping this conversation is over. She knows it probably isn’t, but she still tries to leave. Maybe if she convinces him that she’s going to be late, he'll let her go without a longer talk. 

“Wait.” Her dad stops her before she gets a chance to escape. 

Hope sighs and lingers near the doorway.

“You know I’m proud of you, right?” Klaus asks. “You’re going to carry on the Mikaelson legacy, be the best damn hero there is.” 

Hope digs her nails into the straps of her backpack, feeling the guilt start to consume her. “Of course. I’m uh, going to be late.” 

She only waits another second before walking down the hall and going down the stairs to the kitchen. Sure enough, her mom is making eggs while MG stands uncomfortably away from the skillet. MG has been a vegan about as long as he’s been her best friend, since he’s grown a love for plants. That’s a pun, because MG has been making random plants sprout up everywhere since elementary school.

“How’s your mom doing with the garden?” Hayley is asking when Hope gets down there. 

Poor Mrs. Greasley, having to deal with their fiasco of a garden. MG’s good at growing things, not so much on the size control. Last time Hope went over there, their garden was a little bigger than their house. 

“She’s managing.” MG shrugs. He looks away from the eggs and over at Hope. 

“Hey, MG.” She greets, grabbing a bottle of water out of the cupboard. 

“Hi, Hope.”

He grins at her and behind him one of the newer potted plants on the windowsill suddenly sprouts high, pushing against the glass. Her mom eyes the plant wearily, probably not wanting another broken window. 

“You two better not be late.” Hayley points out. Both of the teenagers nod and Hope hugs her mother goodbye before they leave. 

They step outside together and immediately Hope lets the weight slip off her shoulders (another pun). She sighs, not bothering to make conversation with MG for the first minute of walking down the block. It’s a little rude, but he doesn’t try to start up anything and there’s not much to talk about since they’ve seen each other almost everyday this summer. 

“Are you nervous?” He asks eventually, once they have reached the bus stop. 

“Incredibly.” 

MG bounces on his heels. “Did… did you get your powers yet?”

“I saw you yesterday.” Hope replies. She doesn’t mean to be snarky, but she gets kind of rude when she’s anxious. Another non-hero quality. “It’s fine, I’ll just… be a sidekick.”

The words make her cringe. She might as well walk into that bus and announce that she’s going to be captain of the chess club and remain a virgin all of high school. 

Still, maybe things won’t be so bad. She’s lied to her parents this long, she could lie about being a hero for a few more years. She also doubts MG will be sorted into the hero category, even though she thinks his power is pretty cool. They could get by together. It’s not like anyone else cares as much as her parents do.

Before she has too much time to think about it, the bus rolls up. Hope knows that it’s the proper one because it has a small little S etched into the side of the wheel, plus she notices a few kids from their middle school already sitting in there. The door swings open and reveals a giddy looking man behind the wheel. They step in and he stops them both with his hand before they get the chance to find a seat.

“Names, please?”

Hope immediately freezes up while MG confidently gives his name, gets checked off the driver’s mental list, and takes a couple steps down the aisle. 

Hope lowers her voice considerably. “Hope Mikaelson.”

The driver stares at her for a moment and Hope stands there awkwardly before he’s suddenly up on his feet and Hope is staring at hers, already knowing what’s coming.

He sticks his hand out for her to shake and Hope grips it quickly in hopes that this will make less of a scene. 

“Honor to meet you, Miss Mikaelson.” God, he’s loud and his hand is so sweaty. “How are your parents? Saving the world, probably.”

“Yep.” Hope replies. She glances over at everyone sitting down and finds them all looking at her. Hope gently pulls her hand away, blushing a deep red.

MG has already sat down by the time Hope takes her first steps down the aisle. He’s sitting next to some pretty blonde girl who really doesn’t seem interested. He gives her his awkward ‘I’m sorry’ shrug and Hope sighs before heading towards the back where there are more empty seats. 

She spots a girl in the back sitting alone that looks like Hope’s best bet for the bus ride. The girl has earbuds in and a small frown on her face. It doesn’t seem like she wants to talk to anyone, which is perfect for Hope. It also doesn’t help that the girl is noticeably attractive, with long dark hair and an obvious plumpness to her lips despite the frown. 

Hope is about to sit when someone grabs her arm at the last moment and tugs her into a seat. 

“Trust me, you don’t want to sit there.” It’s a different girl, this one with a little nose piercing and an obvious confidence that Hope doesn’t possess. “I heard the bus driver up there. You’re Hope Mikaelson, right? I’m Penelope Park.”

“Nice to meet you.” Hope replies uncertainly. She isn’t sure if she just stumbled onto one of her parent’s fans or not - some people get pretty crazy. “Why don’t I want to sit next to that girl?”

“That’s Josie Saltzman.” Penelope explains, as if that makes sense.

Hope blinks at her.

“Your dad killed her mom in battle. How do you not know this? She’d rip you apart for just breathing in her direction.” Penelope considers her last sentence for a moment before changing her opinion. “Well, she’d try. Didn’t you get your dad’s powers?”

Great. Just great.

So, she’s less than five minutes into the school day and she already has a fanboy bus driver and now everyone here now knows who she is, including the girl sitting behind her who literally wants to murder her. 

At least Penelope seems nice. A little too bold and maybe too talkative, but nice. Hope just hopes that the kindness will extend to her even when she inevitably gets branded as a sidekick and a total loser.

“Yeah, I did.” Hope lies. She fiddles with her backpack that’s set between her knees and glances out the window, watching the neighborhood pass by. “What powers did you get?”

“You’ll have to see when we get sorted.” Penelope winks at her. 

Hope opens her mouth but then shuts it abruptly. She decides Penelope is alright and she’ll have to introduce him to MG. For now, Hope goes back to staring out the window. She’s heard a lot about the school but not the actual process of getting there. Honestly, she’s a little excited to see how it happens.

Her eyes shift off the window for a second (she swears it’s just a second) to sneak a peek at Josie. She can’t help it, she’s curious about her now and Josie is undeniably pretty. Not to mention that she’s right there behind her, probably plotting Hope’s murder and- oh, great, Josie is staring right at her.

Hope quickly spins her head back around. Beside her, Penelope gives an amused chuckle. 

“You’re gonna have to stop that.” Penelope advises. 

Hope sighs. She’s right. 

A couple more minutes pass before they start to drive off a road where no other cars are. Hope looks around curiously, noticing that the end of the road has a large dead end sign and obviously cuts off there. Still, the bus shows no signs of stopping. Hope tenses and nearly jumps out of her seat when Penelope starts quickly putting on her seatbelt along with everyone else. 

Hope follows the crowd and puts hers on then leans over towards the window a bit more, now more curious than ever. 

“Hold on.” The bus driver calls.

The bus drives right over the sign and launches into the air without warning. All it does is raise Hope’s heartbeat and make her grip the seat a little tighter since they seem perfectly safe, but Hope doesn’t like it either way. She may or may not have a slight fear of heights.

Which is an inconvenient fear to have Hope thinks, not for the first time, as they get high enough above the clouds for her to lay eyes on her new school - which is floating miles and miles above the ground. 

“Guess that explains the nickname.” Penelope says, grinning.

Right. They’re going to the Salvatore School for the Gifted, also known as Sky High.

The sorting process sounds incredibly cruel. 

The school’s principal, Alaric Saltzman, is explaining a little about it as he leads part of the freshmen class down the hall. Unfortunately, both MG and Penelope are getting led around the school by different teachers, so Hope is left to deal with her problems all on her own. 

Problem number one: they’re all about to go into the gym to get sorted into either the hero or sidekick group in front of everyone. 

Problem number two: Dr. Saltzman is only showing around this particular group because his daughters (yes, plural) are in it. So, there’s two girls out to kill Hope now - and possibly the principle. 

Hope is in the back of the group, working hard on keeping her head down as Alaric pushes open the gym doors for everyone. 

“So, it’s pretty simple. You’ll all come up in front of me and show me your powers, then we’ll get you sorted.” A quiet murmur runs through the group and Dr. Saltzman waves a hand in the air to calm everyone down. “Don’t worry, being a hero or a sidekick is equally fulfilling. We just need to know what you’ll be learning for the next four years.”

Four years. Four years of being a loser, Hope thinks. 

She busies herself with looking around the gymnasium. It seems completely normal - bleachers, basketball hoops, a scoreboard, and a wide open space for people to play sports - except for the fact that when she looks out the windows all she sees is clouds. 

Dr. Saltzman steps into the middle of the room and instructs everyone to circle around him. Hope stands in a place where she can see the middle of the circle, but still tries to hide behind a couple people so she won’t get called on early. 

“Josie, Lizzie.” Dr. Saltzman says, calling his daughters into the circle first. “Why don’t you two show everyone your powers?” 

Josie and Lizzie do as they’re told and step into the circle. Hope watches silently, noticing that the blonde MG was sitting next to on the bus is Lizzie (which is something she’ll have to unpack later, because she’s pretty sure that she saw MG mooning over her already). She also needs to know exactly what powers she’s up against. Any beneficial powers at all would be hard to fight, considering she has none, but maybe if the twins had something non-deadly it wouldn’t be too bad. 

Lizzie starts first. She raises her hand and suddenly she is making Josie levitate in the air like it’s nothing. Lizzie keeps on raising Josie higher until Alaric tells her to stop and then she rolls her eyes and brings her sister back safely to the ground.

Okay. Alright. So, Lizzie can move things with her mind. That’s not too scary of a power. What frightens Hope the most is how casually she does it (like Lizzie has thrown Josie across the room a thousand times during normal sibling bickering). 

Actually, scratch that. What frightens Hope the most is when Dr. Saltzman tells Josie to go ahead and then takes a very large step away from her. 

It takes a second. A second where Hope is holding her breath, trying to guess what Josie’s power could possibly be. A second where she’s completely and totally afraid, imagining the worst. 

(Can teenage girls turn into T-Rexs?) 

All of a sudden, Josie is on fire. Literally, on fire. There’s a flame that spreads from the top of her head down to her toes and burns bright in front of them all. Hope can feel the heat coming off of her, but Josie doesn’t seem like it bothers her at all. Everyone else takes several steps back away from the flame until Josie shakes her arms a little and easily makes the fire disappear. 

“Well, I think it’s safe to say we have our first two heroes.” Dr. Saltzman announces. 

Lizzie beams, looking nothing but proud of herself. Josie, on the other hand, turns her head without warning and makes direct eye contact with Hope.

Hope quickly ducks behind someone tall.

Shit, fuck, shit. 

Apparently there are things worse than being a sidekick. Things like dying at the flaming hands of an angry teenage girl. She’s so goddamn screwed. 

Hope hides behind people for as long as she possibly can, trying extra hard to keep her distance from the Saltzman twins. Part of her tries to look on the positive side of things. If she’s sorted into the sidekick group, she won’t have to take classes with either of them. Maybe she can leave without dying. 

Plus, the sidekicks this year don’t look too bad. One girl turns into a volleyball, which is kind of cool. This other guy from middle school, Landon Kirby, gets up there and turns into an emo looking guinea pig. Hope sort of thinks it’s a good power, he could be like a rodent king or something. The other kids obviously don’t feel the same, because anyone who is deemed a sidekick is immediately made fun of through whispers and snickers.

Hope’s anxiety rises with every little snide comment she catches people muttering. She’s not ready for everyone to say that stuff about her. What if people go back home to their parents and talk about it? 

(‘Did you hear about the Mikaelson girl, she’s got no powers - no, none at all - what a fucking disgrace.’)

Dr. Saltzman looks around the room for his next victim and Hope makes a desperate effort to look for someone to duck behind. She’s small, so usually she can find someone taller than her, but this time she can’t do it fast enough. He locks eyes with Hope and suddenly she feels seconds away from bending over and vomiting right there.

“Hope Mikaelson? You’re next.”


	2. Another Day, Another Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long but here it is!

Mark this down as the day Hope dies.

She can almost feel herself sinking into the floor as she steps into the circle - caving in on herself, wishing for all of the prying eyes to go away. Even having a simple power right now would be better than what she’s left with: nothing. She could turn into a rat and befriend that Landon kid or do something kind of lame like glow.

But nothing? 

Nothing gets her screwed.

“Whenever you’re ready, Miss Mikaelson. Show us your power.” Dr. Saltzman prompts. Hope glances at him and then everyone else, seeing how they’ve all taken an extra step back in preparation for whatever awesome thing they expect Hope to do.

Instead of busting out her father’s super strength or launching into the air and flying, Hope takes one big step next to Dr. Saltzman and then leans on her tippy toes to whisper in his ear. 

“I, uh, don’t have a power.” She leans back, bouncing on her heels anxiously and hoping his response is subtle.

“What do you mean you don’t have a power?” He asks, voice booming throughout the gym loud enough that Hope flinches.

So much for subtly.

Hope presses her fingers to her ears for a moment, trying to block out the ringing in it. Okay, so Dr. Saltzman’s powers include loudness. Good to know.

“I don’t have a power.” Hope repeats, a little louder this time. She hates to admit it, but she blushes bright red as a disappointed murmur runs the group. She wants to melt into a puddle and disappear. 

Dr. Saltzman looks her up and down for a moment before speaking again. “You’re kidding me.”

Hope is about the explain that she’s not kidding at all when he pulls a remote out of his pocket, presses a button, and suddenly Hope is dropping to the floor to dodge a car. It takes her a moment to process the fact that he just dropped a car on her (she wonders how the school even has access to cars that seemingly drop out of the ceiling, but one glance at the tires around her and she really can’t deny what she’s seeing) but once she does, she slides part of her body out from under the car. 

“A car?” Her voice comes out breathless, a lot angrier than she would usually aim at a teacher, but she’s currently under a car so she thinks it’s justified. “I don’t have super strength.”

Dr. Saltzman frowns but grabs her arm and helps her out from under the vehicle. Hope dusts herself off as she gets to her feet, just hoping that this whole process is over and she can retreat back to loserdom. 

“Then you fly. Stop messing with me.” He says. Again, before Hope gets a chance to respond, Dr. Saltzman makes an order. “Lizzie.”

Lizzie waves her hand at her father’s request and suddenly Hope is lifted (thrown) into the air, soaring across the room in seconds. She ends up slamming against the nearest wall and slumping down it with a quiet groan. She’s pretty sure that she broke something.

“I can’t fly either.” Hope mutters weakly from the ground. Once she’s sure that she can walk without feeling extreme pain, she trudges back over to the circle of people and repeats herself. “I don’t have powers.”

Dr. Saltzman looks her over once more and Hope tenses. She looks around and prepares for something to come flying at her or to be thrown again, but this time he just tells her she’s a sidekick (no surprise there) and allows her to disappear into the crowd again.

Actually, disappear is the wrong word. Hope feels watched the entire time she stands there. Even as she ducks behind tall people and sets her eyes on the ground, she can still feel people’s eyes on her and hear the whispers amongst the group about her. Also, she thinks her leg is bleeding from being thrown.

In short, Hope feels like shit.

Hope meets up with MG in the cafeteria directly after that, but she’s not really in the mood for food or talking. She keeps getting stared at where’ve she goes. It’s annoying, but most of all the thing that’s making her anxious is the Saltzman twins. The two sisters are sitting apart on different sides of the room with Hope awkwardly in the middle. Lizzie barely looks at her, but all Josie does is stare. 

Hope isn’t sure which one is worse. 

She picks at her food nervously, trying to keep her head down while MG goes on beside her about sidekicks, superheroes, and which teacher he’s already started to hate. Hope feels bad about it, but she’s barely listening. She’s paying attention to her lemonade and the ice cubes in it, fighting the urge to lift her head and check (once again) if Josie is still blatantly watching her. 

Eventually her drink makes her hands feel too cold, so she sets it down. Thankfully, there’s a break in the long chain that is MG’s rambling when she sets down her drink.

“How are you not a hero?” Hope interjects, having heard how MG refused to show his power. “And how are you okay with that?”

He shrugs, biting into an apple cheerfully. “It’s lame sorting everyone into groups like that. Besides, now we’ll have classes together.” 

Hope sighs, pushing her food around on her plate. She regrets opening her mouth. Of course it’s fine for MG to be a sidekick. He doesn’t have a legacy behind him or parents who will strip the skin off of him for underachieving - he’s free to be who he wants. Hope admires that, especially since she’s actually trapped between two twins who may want to kill her. 

The next dumb decision of the day is looking over at Josie again.

Josie is still watching her, as Hope had expected. Even her eyes make warmth spring up and spread across Hope’s body. She feels it (the fire) roll down along her skin until she’s sure her fingertips are becoming wet with sweat. It’s odd how quickly it happens, because she’s sure that she only looks for a second, but when she turns her head back into its original position her whole face is flushed pink and her heartbeat is blaring in her ears.

Someone could mistake this feeling for a crush if it weren’t for the fact that Hope is deathly afraid of her. 

“What do you know about Josie Saltzman?” Hope asks MG in a hushed voice, having the strange feeling Josie can hear her from three tables over.

“Josie Saltzman? Like Josette Laughlin?” MG sounds surprised and stands up, looking around the cafeteria for her before Hope hushes him. He sits down but doesn’t stop looking around. “Josette was almost one of the worst super villains in the world. She had a whole plan to take over the world before your dad got to her. Decapitated her, I think.”

“Decapitated?” 

“Yeah. Just...” He makes a cut across his throat with his thumb. 

Hope feels sick. 

Of course Josie wants to kill her. If they switched places, Hope would want to kill Josie. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Josie and Lizzie just grabbed her right outside school before she gets a chance to get to the buses. Getting her ass kicked would probably be the best case scenario. 

“Are you done eating?” Hope asks, eyeing MG’s mostly empty plate. “I don’t feel well.”

“Yeah.”

They stack their plates and get up. Hope’s stomach is a mess. She thinks she may throw up at any second, but all she wants to do right now is go outside and catch some fresh air with MG. Maybe he can grow her some fruit or help throw her off the edge of the school. Either one would be fine at this point.

The halls are less crowded since it’s lunchtime. It’s a relief, not being surrounded by so many people. She soaks in the space and the lack of cafeteria smells in the air, feeling her stomach start to calm down and the heat begin to leave her body. For once, MG is silent beside her. All he does is send her worried glances.

She is about to open her mouth and tell him that she’s okay - she’s just dealing with the fact that Josie is going to try and murder her while she’s completely powerless - when she runs right into someone. 

“Oh, sorry.” Hope says awkwardly, looking up and seeing that it’s Penelope. 

Penelope doesn’t seem to be mad about being ran into at all. She looks momentarily surprised, but then a smile spreads across her face that’s so calm and collected that anyone would be surprised she’s a freshman. 

“It’s fine.” Penelope bats the apology away. “I don't mind running into you at all.”

Hope’s mouth opens and closes awkwardly, trying to figure out if this is flirting or not. She’s not sure she wants it to be. Part of her thinks that Penelope just has a flirty personality, especially when Penelope glances over at MG and immediately starts complimenting his plain shirt. 

“Uh, thanks. I’m MG.” He offers his hand and Penelope shakes it with a grin, introducing herself back. 

“You should take some Advil or something.” Penelope says to Hope all of a sudden. 

Looking around uncertainly, Hope wonders how Penelope sensed the ache all over her body. It can’t be visibly obvious. 

Oh, wait. Maybe that’s Penelope’s power.

“Are you a mind reader?” Hope questions.

“Nope. You just look a little green.” Penelope shakes her head, her grin turning into more of a smirk. Looks like her power still remains a secret. “I’ll see you two around.”

Penelope looks them both up and down for an equally long amount of time before leaving. It feels slightly odd to Hope (though she’s glad to have someone friendly, besides MG, talking to her) but MG seems perfectly okay with it - in fact, he’s blushing. 

Hope is going to tease him about it but she’s cut off again when she runs into another girl, this one being far less pleasant. 

“Ah.” Hope makes a small, shocked noise at literally bumping heads with Josie. 

It’s embarrassing. The least she could do is try to appear confident. Instead she sounds like a scared child whose voice is suddenly three octaves higher than usual. 

What’s worse is that Josie seems to feed off of her fear, only stepping closer as Hope’s eyes grow wider. It’s like MG isn’t even there, all the safety of the world is gone and it’s just Hope and Josie. Josie and Hope. Hope can’t even breathe with Josie this close. All the air is stuck in her lungs, unable to go in or out. By the time Josie finally steps away, leaving Hope feeling worse than ever, Hope feels as if she might pass out right there in the halls. 

“Are you okay?” MG asks. 

“Yeah.” She nods, breathing slowly. 

A second passes before Hope takes off in the other direction, heading for the bathroom as fast as she can. 

Hope walks out of the stall feeling horribly empty and with a mouth that tastes like bile. Her throat stings horribly, but what’s worse is that lunch is almost over and she’ll have to return to class soon. She’s just glad that the bathroom is empty and she can freely wash her mouth at the sink, then spend time standing there to answer all of MG’s worried texts. She feels bad for leaving him, but she had felt horrible.

Plus, vomiting in front of people definitely wouldn’t give her a better reputation. 

The door swings open and Hope immediately tenses up. There’s a tan girl standing there with wavy brown hair and a pleased smirk on her face at Hope’s presence. It’s unsettling. It’s not the same smirk MG would have when greeting her in the mornings or even the same smirk Penelope had out in the hall. This one has hidden cruelty, Hope can tell. 

“Hey, sidekick.” The girl greets, shutting the door and moving past Hope.

Great, so more people have heard. 

Hope wants to leave, but she remembers her interaction with Josie in the hallway and decides to stand still. She can be a sidekick, but not a coward. 

“What is it?” Hope asks, trying to force some authority into her voice. The girl is circling her like a hungry shark in the water.

“Nothing, just thought I’d introduce myself. I’m Maya.” Maya’s arm stretches impossibly far across the room like a piece of Play-Doh to grab a paper towel. 

If she didn’t seem so threatening, Hope would compliment Maya on her power. Unfortunately, Maya does seem threatening, and Hope isn’t in the mood to deal with a bully. Seeing no reason to introduce herself (everyone probably already knows who she is and if they don’t then it will be better if they never do), Hope finally decides to get the hell out of there. 

“I think there’s a toll in the bathroom, actually.” Maya calls after her.

Hope stops at the door with a sigh and then digs in her pockets for whatever change is leftover from lunch. She hands it to Maya quickly and then leaves once she sees the other girl start to light a cigarette. 

There’s no reason to get detention for smoking on the first day.

“There’s my girl.” Klaus picks Hope up and hugs her tightly almost as soon as she walks in the door. 

She feels guilty, but also selfishly hugs him back and soaks up the praise for powers she has never possessed. Part of her mind wanders and she can’t stop herself from imagining how life will be after her parents find out she’s a sidekick and a liar. They’ll probably be disappointed for life. All their plans for her will fly out the window. She’ll never win a Hero of the Year award or even stop a supervillain all on her own. 

Worse, heroes might not even want her as a sidekick. Without any powers, she’s not much help to anyone. She has to face the fact that she might end up living a completely ordinary life.

“How was your first day?” He asks, finally setting her down. His smile is wider than Hope has ever seen it.

She gathers her courage and forces herself to dive into all of it. “It was uh-“

“Wait.” Klaus cuts her off, taking her by the hand and suddenly leading them out of the room. “I have a better place for us to talk about it.”

Hope’s excitement raises as she’s led through the double doors in her house that she always used to stare at as a kid. Technically, they lead to an extra living room, but more importantly, they lead to the Secret Sanctum. It’s a hidden room under their house filled with all of her parent’s hero technology and souvenirs from their true glory days. Hope has never been allowed in there until now.

Klaus moves a large book on their bookshelf and then presses his hand on the keypad behind it. The bookshelf disappears into the ground with a little beep, showing the entrance into the sanctum - a medium-sized space with two metal poles to slide down, firemen style. 

She knows that she’s unworthy of being inside of it or even just seeing the entrance, but she’s been waiting for this for years. There is no way Hope can pass this up.

Hope tries to grab the left pole, but Klaus bats her away. 

“That one is mine.” He tells her, making them switch places. “Take your mother’s.”

“Okay.” Hope agrees, not caring which pole she takes as long as they get down there. 

He gives her one more proud look before sliding down the pole. Hope quickly follows after him. Once she lands on the surprisingly soft floor, she takes a look around.

It’s much bigger than she thought, looking as if it stretches out under not only their house but the neighbor’s too. The lighting is a dim purple but Hope can see the walls are lined with different gadgets and awards, but mostly confiscated weapons. A few of them she recognizes from their greatest battles (for example, there’s a sleek, dark green ray that turns people into bugs) and others she’s never seen before, but they’re all interesting. 

“I’m so proud.” Klaus says, sitting down and watching Hope look over everything in the room. “You have to tell me all about your first day.”

“Yeah, okay.” Hope says. 

There’s an odd swirl of emotions in her body. She feels a little guilty about all of this, but she also can’t believe that she’s in here and telling her dad about how amazing her day was sounds fun (even if it’s all a lie). In the end, Hope forces down her guilt and goes to sit with her father.

She’ll tell him everything another day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If u want, come talk to me on Tumblr/Twitter @thatoneurchin

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on Twitter about the fic and hosie: @thatoneurchin


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